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The Vancouver condo and how it changed the city

December 12th, 2011 · 59 Comments

I’m just reading an interesting paper published this year by UBC law professor Douglas Harris about the rise of the condo in North American and particularly Vancouver.

As of the 2006 census, he noted, 37 per cent of all residents of Vancouver lived in a strata condo. I can only imagine what the percentage will be when the 2011 census numbers come out.

As Professor Harris points out, this new form of property ownership essentially altered the landscape of Vancouver irrevocably.

I noticed some of you talking about the inherent flaws of condo ownership and alternatives that might provide more (and better) choices.

Love to hear more on that. I’m also curious about whether anyone has had an experience with a condo building that’s come to the end of its life and where all the owners have had to agree on what to do next. (Seems like IanS might know something about this.)

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  • thegeebee

    I live in a 63 year old co-op building in Kerrisdale. Several people questioned my sanity when I purchased my unit. “They never increase in value” “Old crotchety buildings” “Older more crotchety Boards” I really questioned the sensibility of the decision too… I was looking at new places in Kits and almost pulled the trigger a couple of times. My real estate agent pushed me to Co-ops and mentioned the integrity of the building envelopes. Reluctantly I chose to go the Co-op route.
    Checking the map on Realtor.ca, my friends are correct… still the lowest prices on the West Side of Vancouver and a miniscule increase in value.
    But while several of them have had a second bout of the “Blues” (Tarps) and huge bills on the horizon. I have a proactive board, a new roof, boiler, etc. and a general clean bill of health for our building.

  • Michelle

    thegeebee #50
    “I have a proactive board, a new roof, boiler, etc. and a general clean bill of health for our building.”

    ADave #47
    “Is this the civic version of a “privatization” ponzi?
    Is this payback for $2 million in campaign donations?”

    Bill, Michael, Roger…
    Exactly!

  • Julia

    Had lunch with a friend yesterday. 30 year old townhouse complex in North Vancouver. End of life issues on the exterior – $140,000 assessment for each owner. They can’t sell the units with a looming assessment, half of the young owners can’t afford the looming assessment, (banks won’t give them the money), seniors in the complex don’t want to pay that sort of money, tearing it down is an option but the city is not ready to deal with rezoning. What a mess. Friend is certain the repairs will have to go to court to get done and then all the neighbours will be fighting. Who wants to live with neighbours in distress and fighting with each other?

    Wonder how many times this story will repeat itself in the next 10 years.

  • Roger Kemble

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/opinions/editorials/banks-not-just-consumers-bear-responsibility-for-high-debt-levels/article2271494/

  • paul

    Julia – 52 – where’s this building in North Van?

  • Julia

    Paul, near Mount Seymour Blvd.

  • Lewis N. Villegas

    Oh, with training in architecture and building technology, and currently acting as Council Liaison for our exterior envelope upgrade, allow me the honour of driving the last few nails in this coffin… as I wait for a call back from a contractor that will make me late for a coffee clutch with ‘A Dave’…

    The Leaky Condo crisis is really a sidebar. Each one of those buildings was designed by registered architects, stamped by professional engineers and inspected by City Halls across the land. Yet, these professionals fell down on their line of duty and put many just-plain-Canadians in serious financial, and sometimes personal health, risk and failure.

    Yet, that’s not the real issue.

    As others also see it, the problem is with building communities from strata lot owners instead of real property (i.e. land) owners.

    Can we make strong communities out of that? I argue the point here:

    http://wp.me/p1mj4z-tp

    Modern planning and architecture are in the rear view mirror. For a host of reasons we need to plan for urbanism with a building product that is human-scale, fee-simple, and can build incrementally. Many hands, rather than single large conglomerates. Our very ability to put a distance between corruption and self governance depends on it.

    Leaky, yes. But pay attention to what is really leaching out.

  • MB

    @ Lewis, I agree that we can do better with respect to making our cities, neighbourhoods and individual buildings more resilient and humane.

    But Mike Holmes would still be able to build a very lucrative career out of repairing houses as long as there are shoddy contractors, architects who let style triumph over substance, and underfunded city building inspection departments.

  • Warren

    My mother owned a unit in the notorious Glenrobin strata in Burnaby. Terrible situation, she was lucky to walk away with almost what she paid (meanwhile real estate more than doubled nearby) thanks to some rezoning help from the city and a strong market encouraging developers to step in.

    There was some lengthy legal action against the builders and the government that went nowhere before the sale took place.

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